The Clothes: Manish Arora is one of the most entertaining designers to watch during Paris washion week--nevertheless, under his cabaret-style shows li

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The Clothes: Manish Arora is one of the most entertaining designers to watch during Paris washion week--nevertheless, under his cabaret-style shows lie solid, commercially viable collections. This one was no exception: he chose to reference India, where he is from, with an added layer of comical Bollywood references. Gold leggings, facial jewelry (including dangly forehead embellishments), clip-on necklaces, bangles--you name it, it was clinking. Many of the clothes also came emblazoned with large diamond prints. But underneath it all, the garments were surprisingly simple--the cuts offered a pared down take on traditional Indian costumes. Churidar (legging-like trousers with dresses) were morphed into shift dresses with leggings, salwar kameez (long shirt and matching trousers) into chic silk ensembles, and saris appeared in sparse touches on evening dresses. Arora threw in some indulgent 1980s touches on top of it all: embroidered tiger print, gold sequins and the occasional sweatshirt made the collection a fit choice for M.I.A.’s next video.

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The Hair & Makeup: Gleaming eye shadow, straight, center parted hair.

The Soundtrack: From traditional Indian music to Bollywood tracks.

The Vibe: Everyone is the room looked as if they wanted to break into a secretly choreographed dance (I did, anyway).

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PARIS--Manish Arora was recently chosen as Paco Rabanne’s next head designer--and this made us look for hints of his new designs throughout namesake collection's catwalk.
“When I designed this collection I didn’t know about Paco Rabanne," Manish told us minutes after the show, “but I think the timing is right. This collection is for a woman, not a girl. She is still having fun, but is more sophisticated.”
Indeed, the designer known for his wild runways and colorful embroideries showed new signs of maturity. Sure, the catwalk kicked off with a magician who made a model appear in a box, but the silhouettes were body-conscious--like a teenage girl growing into adulthood and learning to dress for her figure.